Rate the last film you watched.

[criterionmaster]

Clerks II - 9/10
Gloria (Cassavetes) - 7.5/10
Miller's Crossing - 8.5/10
Oliver Twist (Polanski) - 8/10

(Reviews may follow. Ask me anything about these.)

[blackmoses]

Rewatched Toy Story, 10/10. Smokes Toy Story 2 anyone agree or not.

[agentknight]

Criterionmaster: tell me more about Clerks II!

[criterionmaster]

If you like Clerks one you will totally love this. I haven't laughed so hard in a while, Smith even threw in some touching moments. The dialogue is spot on. Rude, funny, nerdy but with wit! There are even some camera movements! lol I never thought Dawson would work in the film but she totally does. Kevin Smith has some how found a way to get past all the terrible comedies out there and come out with something that I loved. The ending will make a tear come to anyone who loved the first ones eye! It is his second best film and probably his most "mature" if thats the right word. GO AND SEE IT!

[criterionmaster]

Lonesome Dove - 10/10

This is THE western. Smashes all others.

[Nomansvally]

- Naboer (2005) 3/5 - Violent and pyschological drama about a sick man creating a new world in his head after murdering his ex-woman and husband. Weird Lynchian film, but the dialogue is'nt so good.

- L'Enfant (2005) 5/5! - Powerful and realistic film about money, crime and punishment. Reminds me of La Promesse. One of the best releases I've seen from 2000-2006. Excellent plot too!

- Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) 4/5 - Better than expected entertainment in Lethal Weapon-style. Twisty plot with some really funny sequences.

- Mouchette (1967) 5/5!!! - Powerful, sad, dramatic and brilliant film about a young girl's struggle in a little countryside town. Many excellent scenes, and I love way it ends...

- Zelig (1983) 4/5 - Wonderful and witty "documentary" by WA about a human camelion who travels all around and meets various famous people in the 1920-30s.

[captainofbeef]

criterionmaster said:

Lonesome Dove - 10/10

This is THE western. Smashes all others.

Nah, leave the westerns to me.

[mixed]

I know I have to watch all of sword of doom, not right now though. To many other good flicks to see. I strill haven't even watched La Strada, stalker and lady vengeance which I bought ages ago!

[criterionmaster]

captainofbeef said:

criterionmaster said:

Lonesome Dove - 10/10

This is THE western. Smashes all others.

Nah, leave the westerns to me.

You are so dumb. You have GtBtU number one on your list which shows how little you know. The only excuse you can come up with is you don't like the lead girl in OUaTitW. I know, as well as almost everyone else, that it is better. Your list is flawed out the ass. Treasure of the Sierra Madre is too low, and Dead Man shouldn't be on there. Tombstone shouldn't even be close, the movie is fun, but it is no way better than Lonesome Dove. Leave ALL film to me from now on.

[kiddo]

Haha. I agree with you on C`era una volta il West, though.

Nikutai no mon (Gate of Flesh)
A melodramatic piece of perversity from Japan. Lacking emotional power, but scores pretty high on visual greatness.
*** (Good)


I express myself much, much better in Norwegian, so to Nomansvalley`s pleasure:

Nikutai no mon (Gate of Flesh)
En småpervers, melodramatisk 60-tallsklassiker som falt sånn delvis i smak. Visuelt er den veldig fin, men flere merkelige og upassende klipp sniker seg inn her og der. Manuset virker noe banalt, men historien klarer da å fenge sånn brukbart (dog ikke hele veien). Men Nikutai no mon klarer ikke å røre meg noe nevneverdig, og helheten forblir utseendemessig fargerik og innholdsmessig mer eller mindre fargeløs. Et sterkt pluss for atmosfærisk fotografering hjelper denne opp på tre pene stjerner.
*** (God (hehe, jeg tenker engelskmennene feiltolker denne til "Gud"))

[captainofbeef]

criterionmaster said:

captainofbeef said:

Nah, leave the westerns to me.

You are so dumb. You have GtBtU number one on your list which shows how little you know. The only excuse you can come up with is you don't like the lead girl in OUaTitW. I know, as well as almost everyone else, that it is better. Your list is flawed out the ass. Treasure of the Sierra Madre is too low, and Dead Man shouldn't be on there. Tombstone shouldn't even be close, the movie is fun, but it is no way better than Lonesome Dove. Leave ALL film to me from now on.

Ok, do you want me to say straight up why I like TGBU better than OUATIW?? Its not that I don't like the girl, Claudia Cardinale is smokin' hot and one of my favortie actresses, its the fact that OUATIW doesnt have Clint in it. There you have your reason. Plus, TGBU is what introduced me to a more serious tye of film, even if it is a blood splattered western. After I watched TGBU, it inspired me to seek more great cinema rather than just watch the trash that is produced and sent out to the theater for teens.

And no, everyone else doesnt agree with you about OUATIW, we doe have a thread matching them two up. OUATIW still won, but by one or two votes. Plenty of people feel the way I do about it being the better film.

Now back on the topic of Lonesome Dove. It was good. Thats all. No more, no less. About an 8.5 in my book. You want to fight me on it, thats fine. Everyone has their opinions, there is mine.

[captainofbeef]

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

8/10
A very fun film. This film would have been just another mindless detective piece if it weren't for two things. The excellent acting by Robert Downey Jr and Val Kilmer, and the hilarious narrating and nerdy dialogue that the film is paced with. Its the type of forgettable film that falls out of your head 15 minutes after you watch it, but that doesnt stop you from having a blast while its playing.

[Clark Nova]

captainofbeef said:

criterionmaster said:

You are so dumb. You have GtBtU number one on your list which shows how little you know. The only excuse you can come up with is you don't like the lead girl in OUaTitW. I know, as well as almost everyone else, that it is better. Your list is flawed out the ass. Treasure of the Sierra Madre is too low, and Dead Man shouldn't be on there. Tombstone shouldn't even be close, the movie is fun, but it is no way better than Lonesome Dove. Leave ALL film to me from now on.

Ok, do you want me to say straight up why I like TGBU better than OUATIW?? Its not that I don't like the girl, Claudia Cardinale is smokin' hot and one of my favortie actresses, its the fact that OUATIW doesnt have Clint in it. There you have your reason. Plus, TGBU is what introduced me to a more serious tye of film, even if it is a blood splattered western. After I watched TGBU, it inspired me to seek more great cinema rather than just watch the trash that is produced and sent out to the theater for teens.

And no, everyone else doesnt agree with you about OUATIW, we doe have a thread matching them two up. OUATIW still won, but by one or two votes. Plenty of people feel the way I do about it being the better film.

Now back on the topic of Lonesome Dove. It was good. Thats all. No more, no less. About an 8.5 in my book. You want to fight me on it, thats fine. Everyone has their opinions, there is mine.

Funny you should say that, because what you just said, about GBU being your inspiration for seeking out the best that cinema has to offer, the same exact thing happened with me, except it wasn't GBU...it was Once Upon a Time in the West. I first saw GBU about a year ago and absolutely loved it, but pretty much shrugged it off a few days later. A few weeks later, though, I watched OUATITW, and I was absolutely awed and had no idea why. I had never had a reaction to a single film like I had for this one. Yeah, Cardinale couldn't really act her way out of a box (but boy was she easy on the eyes) and some of the dialogue was incredibly stilted, but things like Harmonica's and Frank's introductions, seemingly simple yet beautiful scenes like the road stop and Morton's "card game" and the incredibly epic final shootout stood out in my mind for a long, long time. I figured if something like this could give me this kind of reaction, there must be other great films out there that could produce a similar response. Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking your love of GBU at all...I just find it funny that we had the same reaction to the two different films in question...so the moral of the story, OUATITW is a pretty damn good movie... it's the one film that really got me to love the art of film and inspire me to pursue a career in film study or film criticism.

and that's all i have to say about that...might as well review something now.

[Clark Nova]

The Matrix Trilogy with critics commentary

first, a word on the critics: at times they seem incredibly proud of themselves and their knowledge of films, but boy, these guys know what they're talking about...really helped me understand just why the first film is a modern masterpiece and why the 2nd and 3rd are...well, we all know what happened with those. Now, the films themselves...

The first one is simply outstanding and probably one of, if not the most influential film of the last 15 years or so. I mean, c'mon...how many bullet-time imitations have we seen post-1999? Yeah, much of the dialogue, especially Fishburne's, is incredibly hammy and stilted, but he really makes it work because he's built up as this god-like figure that Neo, and the viewer, must follow. I know a lot of people like to knock Keanu Reeves, but he was just so clueless in this film that we felt just like him, taking the hero's journey...a concept used frequently by, say, George Lucas. This with some incredible set designs and cinematography make this one an absolute classic.

...and then there's the sequels. Oh, my, what a drop-off. Whereas the philosophy in the first film was simply an undertone, here it's practically shoved down your throat. At times the film just stops completely to have these dreadful conversations with the conselor and the oracle about god-knows-what...and to make it worse, even the action scenes feel useless. We all know Neo and friends are in no real danger of being killed, so the action's just a place-holder until the plot can move along. Like the Neo vs. 100 Smiths fight...first of all, he could've just flown away at any time, but that wouldn't be as exciting to the audience, i guess...also, it just doesn't feel as real or dangerous to the hero like him vs. just 1 Smith felt. Then you've got horrid acting from character actors we've never heard of with some of the most thankless roles ever conceived. Hell, the only actor who seemed to genuinely care about his part and just have some fun was the damn Merovingian...his scene and Monica Bellucci's (who just steals the film when you just look at her) kissing scene have a great old-school noir feel that's quickly abandoned for yet another meaningless action scene. Probably worst of all, Neo, the hero we really clinged onto in the first film, is practically non-existant here...in both sequels, he's just gone for stretches of at least half-an-hour while we're subjected to a meaningless car chase that doesn't advance the plot whatsoever and a Battle of Zion that just bombards you with cool effects and characters we have absolutely no empathy for. Even Morpheus, the coolest guy I've seen on screen in a long, long, time, is relegated as Niobe's co-pilot. A series that began as a brilliant sci-fi / noir / action vehicle arguably on par with Blade Runner ended up as just another over-the-top, make-your-brain-explode-with-too-much-CGI action blockbuster.

The Matrix: 8.5/10
The Matrix Reloaded: 5/10
The Matrix Revolutions: 3.5/10

...my god, i just typed a lot.

[satantangofan]

Recent watches/rewatches

The 400 Blows *****/*****
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoise *****/*****
Mouchette *****/*****
Au Hasard Balthazar ***/***** (overrated & by far from Bresson's best)
From the Life of the Marionnettes ****/*****

[Nomansvally]

Good one, Endre! Virker intressang den filmen der, men personlig liker jeg bedre europeisk film, sånn helt generelt. Jeg har virkelig ikke sett mye asiasisk...

Last film seen: Höstsonaten (1979) - Autumm Sonata

Underrated Bergman film starring INGRID Bergman (Crap, I did'nt know that before I put it on! And it's the first time I've heard her speaking Swedish) she really acts this one out, and as so many Bergman films the actors delivers! Overall a very good film, and very theatrical. Almost the half of the film is a dialogue, and some scenes in this is very Bergmanesque!

[kiddo]

Satantangofan: I feel the same way about Au Hasard Balthazar. A three-star review from me too. I especially disliked the editing and pace. Didn`t work for me at all. Apart from this, I can see why so many like it...

And to Nomansvalley: Høstsonaten is wonderful! At times pretty hard to watch. And not because of blood and gore, but the inner pain of the main characters. Easily a five-star-rating for this one.

[mixed]

The Fifth Element: Bruce makes me laugh, some of it is creative, the shootout with the troll type things is lots of fun, well choreographed and humorous. Though the plot is very cluttered and full of unnecessary parts which slow the pace of the film down and are simply irrelevant. Then it has many derivative action movie moments and silly convenient parts. 4/10

Ghost World - Vibrant, well written exploration of teenage life and social status. Its a really easy film to watch and it has those moments in it which are fanciful and almost so cliche they won't be fun, but they are. If you get what i mean.. It was nice to see Buscemi play that kind of role, which he pulled off quite well. The ending was a tad unsatisfying though. 7/10

[Clark Nova]

Yeah, Fifth Element could've been something great, but it ends up tripping all over itself to show off its style and special effects...not nearly as polished a Besson film as his excellent Léon.

[mixed]

Yeah I totally agree about the fifth element.
I just watched Apocalypse Now. The sheer scale of the film is really remarkable, the first attack for instance. I liked the characters too. Martin Sheen plays the main role really well. I think when we finally meet Brandos character its a little anti-climatic, considering he has been hyped up the whole film. Some of the film looks really beautiful. The sunset licking over the rippling waters, the vibrancy of some of the landscape. I wasn't really blown away by it though (this was my first viewing wow!) yet I was still quite entertained for the duration of it. 8/10.

[PTAhole]

I'm seeing that on Friday, when it opens wide.

[captainofbeef]

La Femme Nikita

6/10
I really wanted to like this film more. But I just couldn't. The plot was extremely formulaic and the movie took forever to get going. Then even when it got going, the plot just kept moving in that same old formulaic direction and ended in a very ho-hum manner. The performances are not really all that good either with the exception of Parillaud in the lead role and Jean Reno in a short role as a "cleaner." I am starting to think that Besson is very overrated as a director. Leon is the only good film I have seen come from his body of work.

[Clark Nova]

Yeah, other than Léon, it just seems like he's trying WAY too hard to show off his sense of style...which is ultimately not that good. Like I said before, The Fifth Element could've been one of the great sci-fi films of the decade, but it got bogged down by too much emphasis on what the future would look like, making pretty much all of the characters no more than charicatures and cartoonish and unrealistic. Léon, on the other hand, focused on the characters and the internal, rather than the external...personally I thought Gary Oldman was a little too over-the-top (then again, when is he not...), but other than that, Reno's perfect as the hitman with a heart of gold and Portman gives the best performance of her career...at age 12. Shows how her career's slipped, if ya ask me...

[captainofbeef]

I personally thought that Portman's performance was awful. She really just can't act in my opinion. But the other performaces (Reno and Oldman) shined through Portman's and Besson doesnt heap on the style like he usually does. I mean there were some cool moments in Nikita and in the Fifth Element, but overall both pretty much sucked.

[Nomansvally]

- L'Armée des ombres (1969) 5/5 - Thrilling WW2 resistance film with many superb scenes accompanied with a haunting score. Melville clinically captures the uncertainty of underground movement as well as the unpredictability.

- En Kärlekshistoria (1970) 4.5/5 - Warm and charming film about love between two teenagers and from their parents perspective. Beautiful mix!

- Husbands and Wives (1992) 4/5 - WA drama of many faces. This is a clever written and interesting film but I felt that the handheld camera/frequently jump-cut was slightly forced on several occations.

[PTAhole]

God, am I the only person who likes The Fifth Element?!!

[satantangofan]

ptahole said:

God, am I the only person who likes The Fifth Element?!!

It looks that way

[satantangofan]

Rewatched L'Avventura last night. I can see why this was so unpopular in 1960. The title is misleading in a traditional, cinematic sense, although accurate in depicting a journey of the mind/emotions. The Psycho comparisons really don't hold up at all. OK, the films were made in the same year, the female star disappears within the first 30 minutes & their boyfriends'/girlfriends' find themselves attracted to each other. After this, the two films couldn't be more different.
L'Avventura still looks incredible & has a pace and tone that is completely its own. Antonioni is the master of using the environment to accentuate the narrative. Here, the landscapes and locations are beautiful but strangely empty and meaningless, just like its characters. Never has ennui and indolence looked so good. A timeless masterpiece *****/*****

[kiddo]

I like The Fifth Element myself. It has many flaws, but as a pure entertainment picture it works very good. I also like La Femme Nikita. I love the performances, the music, the visuals... The scene in the restaurant was the scene that "did" it for me, though. I remember that when I saw that scene, I got a sense of confirmation that film was the medium I would be stick with for years to come. And the end. Oh god, I loved the ending of the film.

[mixed]

Stalker - Beguiling landscapes and deep characters make this a superb film. Everything about the film is clearly meticulous. The directions of the characters and camera ornamentation. Its clear that Tarkovsky likes using water and he does so to exciting and beautiful effect. The imagery is so detailed and effective as well. The tiled floor strewn with needles and layered with oily water for example. I just loved the uniqueness and variety of the scenery. I noticed that their aren't many wideshots in the whole film, surprising I thought. The scene in the meat mincer is particularly effective with its use of light. The black and white sections also work nicely. Despite the great things about the film I found the ending a little insipid, if understandable. But I didn't understand everything that was conveyed so will certainly need a rewatch to get the full picture. 4/5